December 8, 2005 - Associated Press

LA Jail Inmate Murdered Because Of Misunderstanding

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Prosecutors said they believe a
jail inmate was stomped to death in an unsupervised room last
month because other prisoners mistakenly thought he was an informant.

A pair of gang members apparently targeted Chadwick Shane
Cochran, 35, after seeing him being escorted by sheriff's deputies,
according to the district attorney's office.

Officials initially believed the attack occurred after Cochran
cut in front of the gang members in a dinner line.

Christian Perez, 18, and Heriberto Eddie Rodriguez, 24, were
charged Wednesday with Cochran's torture and murder. They could
face the death penalty if found guilty.

Cochran, who had mental problems, was in jail for a nonviolent
offense.

The attack occurred Nov. 16 in a room filled with 30 inmates
who were unsupervised and could not be seen by deputies from
outside.

Officials said the assailants screamed "Snitch!"
while beating and stomping Cochran for up to a half-hour.

None of the other 27 inmates tried to stop the attack.

Cochran's was the eighth killing in the Los Angeles County
jail system in two years.

By placing Cochran in the general inmate population, the jail
violated its policy of segregating inmates with possible mental
problems.

A 2004 report also recommended that the sheriff begin segregating
violent inmates from nonviolent ones.

"I haven't investigated this myself, but what it suggests
to me is a cascade of errors," said Merrick Bobb, the special
monitor who advises county supervisors on Sheriff's Department
matters.

"If so, it's very much like the five inmate deaths that
led to the 2004 report. It wasn't just one guy messing up one
thing, it was a systemic failure."

Sheriff Lee Baca said Tuesday that the Sheriff's Department
was working on a plan to segregate violent gang members.

Perez is awaiting trial on a murder charge. Rodriguez is a
San Fernando Valley gang member who is awaiting trial on kidnapping
and carjacking charges, according to court records and prosecutors.

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